


Declivity

by NVSawaya



Category: Original Work
Genre: Canon Non-Binary Character, Dark Fantasy, Deities, Demons, Divination, F/F, LGBT, M/M, Multiple Pov, Other, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, Slow Burn, Theres giant cats, Trans Character, everything goes bad but in a sexy way, religious trauma, too much religious imagery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-16 20:20:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28962333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NVSawaya/pseuds/NVSawaya
Summary: The tragedy of two brothers may be the only hope for retaining the balance of the  gods.Years after a devastating massacre of deity vessels-humans who house deities in the mortal world-the god of Time is crumbling. Eris, the sole remaining vessel of Time and dreamseer of Tau, begins to suffer dark interruptions to his visions. While his younger brother, Astrophel, longs for a life outside of the palace, free from his duties as the royal stargazer. The two must overcome the growing distance between them to figure out how to shake the demon hunting them, and save the gods.
Relationships: Original Female Character/Original Female Character, Original Male Character/Original Male Character
Kudos: 2





	Declivity

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for checking out Declivity!   
> We've been working on this concept for a while and are just beginning to put it into words! 
> 
> This prologue takes place a number of years before the events of the main story. This prologue like most of our chapters, is broken into two parts for ease of reading!

Caesus was crumbling.

What was once a great empire had fallen into pieces at the feet of a rising nation, trampled into a shameful dust by the Tau militia. Shame lingered across rolling hills and crashing shores, riddled in the tall wheat fields to the south and the piling snow of the north- it was a sickly spread of sacrifice. 

What began as an experimental craving for divine power exploded into a ravenous hunger--greedy and unabated--the kingdom decayed from it’s most precious interior outwards. A skeleton held the kingdom’s faith together yet no true solution to the insatiable desire existed. Rot spread into the vast reaches of Caesus as the deities wept over the land they once loved; which once loved them. 

With ravenous poison came an equally ravenous cure. 

The virulent year of betrayal had led to towering beasts breaking down lines of guards, thrashing and mauling their way into the precious halls of a hermit king. The Panthera were unlike any beast the Caesean guards had ever seen before, hulking golden and black striped cats with mammoth claws and bone crushing jaws. Before even a drop of blood was spilled, their glowing eyes on the horizon ushered in a dreadful stillness, terse anticipation of karma’s wrath. 

The siege had begun in the sunset hours, the retreating rays of light slipping from the palace’s marble walls for the clouds to inhale and cloak the dwelling in twilight. The arches, windows for the Caesian royalty to peer into their sinking kingdom, stood empty as the last of the empire’s days fluttered in along the hems of sheer curtains. Utter silence before their demise. 

“ _ Let it fall! Let it fall!”  _

The song of those teetering on the cusp of revolution would be forever imbued in the stones of the capital city. Vibrating not only in crumbled stones and castle walls, but seared within the memories of warriors and citizens alike. As the sun faded from the glittering statues that lined the path to royalty, a new orange replaced it- the fiery robes donned by Tau warriors saturating the palace and spilling into the elegant white walls beyond the gates. 

Drumbeats and chants rose from the ruins of a nation, soon to be reborn free from its sins. 

“ _ Let it fall!” _

At the heart of the carnage, Efa waded through the halls, her footsteps heavy with the fury of a forsaken nation and her eyes smoldering with grief. Crimson slowly dripped down the blade in her hand and settled in the crevices of old prayers engraved in its surface. The vivid red words spun a prayer of hope, protection, and a dedication to justice. Her stride mirrored the towering Panthera beside her, a driving yet slow tempo drawn out by the rock of her hips. 

Upon first sight of the warrior queen, Caesean troops halted in shock and fear, for below her burning gaze sat a pair of gold jaws curving along her face. Small, precise incisors were clustered in the front, abruptly giving way to hulking canines that slotted together when the device closed. Any soldier unfortunate enough to evade the merciful swing of her sword only heard the tinny click of a spring before the jaws buried into their flesh. 

Efa held her head high as her blood splattered robes fluttered around her. Heavy doors slashed by the twilight’s beam laid at the end of the corridor. There.

“Toudrix,” At her call, her husband hurried to her side. Toudrix was dressed similarly to his wife, in orange warrior's garb and loose green pants. However, in place of her golden jaws he wore a black, stitched mask. Only his eyes protruded above the black cloth, rounded by years of gentleness but clear with calculation. While there was catalytic passion boiling behind Efa's irises, clement guidance laced his own.

Toudrix took one look at the door before letting out a long, low whistle. A streak of warm tones and stripes hurtled passed as the Panthera launched at the door.

A deafening  _ boom-crack  _ erupted as the door splintered with the cat’s weight. The beast was relentless, rearing back to throw itself into the door again and again. Each hit sent chunks of wood shooting and the door bowed against the assault. Beyond that door was the infection, the festering wound that had forced their nation to rot in grief, their lost vessels torn brutally from the followers who cherished them.

Between the splintering wood and violent slam of the Panthera’s body, the air was still. They had reached the gate to the final destination in their journey to end the cursed era. 

The couple’s eyes met. Despite the blood dripping off the gold jaws, Toudrix gazed at Efa with all the tenderness as though she were standing with him at the altar all over again. “He hasn’t cried at all, has he?” 

A swath of cloth held the warm, little bundle securely between her shoulder blades. She turned so her husband could pull back the fabric to spy the mop of hickory curls inside. “With all the noise, you’d think he’d wake up.” Efa let out a breathy chuckle. 

The booming demolition of the door changed, now layered with the groan of straining metal. 

“If you stay asleep only a little longer, you will wake to greet the new world.” Toudrix petted a few curls before tucking him safely back into the folds of cloth. “Now let us end this purge, my beloved."

A decisive boom erupted from the door as it flew from its hinges.

The dust barely settled before the pair threw themselves through the opening, the Panthera bounding after them.  Gloom unnaturally swallowed the sanctuary, discoloring the white walls and glass in a murky shadow. The stench inside hit them like a wall, iron mixed with something richer yet astringent, like the scent of rotted meat. 

Despite the evening light filtering through the jagged stained glass, only the red seemed to find the floor. Shadows crossed much more boldly than the light fell, the accursed sanctuary far from the gleaming marble and holy radiance it was fabled to be. 

The rest of the Tau militia had not reached this area, yet the room was already in ruins. Broken pews piled like firewood in the corners of the room, once treasured tapestries torn, stained, or forgotten on the floor. Shards of divinity projected through shattered pieces of colored glass, the glimmering bits forgotten amongst the corpses that lined the room.

Their faces reflected the chaos that overtook Caesus, fear woven between their dull eyes and furrowed expressions. The wrinkled worries starkly contrasted the youthful faces of some, while it was well-placed on the others. These empty shells once nurtured deities within them, living sacrifices fated to their gods. Now, the perished vessels shared only one trait- a pierced, gaping hole in their chests. Temples of flesh now cold and forgotten in piles of decay, treated as the splintered wood of pews their worshippers prayed in.

Betrayed by the priest that served them.

Pouring over an open manuscript, quill frantic in his hand, was the seed of evil itself; dressed in white and leering over the altar fixed in the center of the room. His knuckles paled with the grip on his quill, sweat beading on his brow as he wrote- as the world crumbled around him. As the nib scratched the page, quickening as the doors burst. He shifted his gaze to the figure that was cowering on the floor before him.

The figure, defeated and humble at the evil's feet, shivered over a brass basin on the floor. As the warriors rushed in, Efa only caught a quick glance of the apprehensive woman before she scuttled away, basin thrumming with a heavy echo and accompanied with a splash of water over it's edge. 

Though the resonating clang of metal rolling on the altar added to the mounting chaos, Efa's iron glare was focused again on the priest behind it all.

The priest held his head high again, yet his robes were stained with his guilt, wretched cardinal marring the pristine white. Against his embroidered shoulder, a towering staff rested, an artifact that may have once been a symbol of the gods; but now dripped the scarlet of his damnation. 

The queen with the gilded jaw did not hesitate. Before he could mutter a single word, he was thrown to the marble, his staff clattering away from him and sending specks of blood across the stained floor. The enormous Panthera loomed over him, crushing both his legs under the weight of its front paws. His screams fell on deaf ears, an ungodly gospel echoing distantly through the chamber. 

“ _ Who do you cry for, godless one? _ ” Efa spoke with a thick Tau accent and the Casean fell staccato from her lips. “ _ Do you cry for the lives you’ve stolen? _ ”

She stalked to where he laid, and knelt beside the writhing man. “ _ Is it for the boy from Duure? The old woman from Lepos? The youth from Miskas? _ ” Sweat beaded over the decayed priest's forehead, eyes manic while he stared at his executioner. A sickening crunch echoed above his labored pants as Kamau shifted her weight. Efa felt nothing. “ _ Or do you cry for the child from Tau? Are these tears for my Mabon? _ ” 

The priest took a breath, as though he wanted to respond, but Efa’s palm clamped onto his windpipe, allowing only pitiful wheezes and sputters to escape. “ _ No. You will have no last words. There will be no dignity for you, even in death. _ ” 

He knew his crimes and he knew the price to pay for such treachery. Yet his chest heaved and tears leaked down his cheeks, while his lips quivered around breathless words. 

“ _ Cry for mercy from your god. But know they have grown cold to you. _ ”

The queen forcefully twisted his head back into the floor, before she positioned the golden jaws around his neck. The wordless prayers trapped under Efa’s hand crescendoed into choked gurgles as crimson stained the floors. Retribution seeped onto the altar, dripping and running as red as the worship that built it. 

Efa held on until he was silent, only small convulsions pulsing through him as blood sputtered out and pooled around them. The life drained slowly from his face, eyes growing distant and dull as his mouth fell slack. The queen watched unwaveringly. To watch evil die before her, mere inches from her face, was to ensure the future of her people, of her own son. She had sworn to see his vile man to the end.

Only once she felt the warmth leave him did she let the jaws unclench with a metallic squeal. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! If you want to know more about Declivity, we post art and updates on our website and social media.   
> Twitter & Instagram: @Declivity_  
> Website: https://declivitycontact.wixsite.com/declivity
> 
> Let us know what you think of it so far! Thanks again for reading, we'll be posting the next chapter soon!


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